Daley kicks off season with successful defence

Tom Daley took the first step towards potential World Championships success by defending his national 10m Platform title at the British Gas Diving Championships on Sunday.

Daley, the Olympic bronze medallist, is designing his year around the World Championships, which take place in Barcelona this summer. Sunday's victory was an ideal way to begin the season.

The 18-year-old saw off his rivals by over 125 points at Plymouth Life Centre, recording an overall score of 501.00. That fell some way short of the 556.95 registered at London 2012, but Daley was satisfied with his opening performance.

"It wasn't too bad a start to the season - both my performances were over 500 which is all I can ask for really," Daley said on British Swimming's official website.

"I've been trying to overcome a chest and throat infection to compete here and it could've been a little bit better. There are a few tweaks I can make and hopefully it will come together later in the season.

"To get the world title back would be the ultimate dream this season - that would be amazing. But it's about working on consistency because everyone is learning lots of harder, new dives."

James Denny - with a score of 374.90, and Daniel Goodfellow - with 340.25, finished second and third respectively.

Elsewhere, Grace Reid claimed her first senior individual national title in the 3m Springboard discipline, while in the men's 3m Synchro Yona-Knight Wisdom and Matthew Roberts walked away with the gold medals.